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Pope Innocent III (Latin: Innocentius III; 22 February 1161 – 16 July 1216), [1] born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 until his death on 16 July 1216. Pope Innocent was one of the most powerful and influential of the medieval popes.
- Overview
- Early life and career
- Early pontificate
Innocent III (born 1160/61, Gavignano Castle, Campagna di Roma, Papal States [now in Italy]—died July 16, 1216, Perugia) the most significant pope of the Middle Ages. Elected pope on January 8, 1198, Innocent III reformed the Roman Curia, reestablished and expanded the pope’s authority over the Papal States, worked tirelessly to launch Crusades to ...
The son of Trasimund, count of Segni, and Claricia dei Scotti, the daughter of a noble Roman family, Lothar began his education in Rome, possibly at the Schola Cantorum. After his early education in Rome, he traveled north in the late 1170s or 1180 to study in Paris, the leading centre of theological studies. Although little is known about his stay in Paris, what is known is suggestive. His teachers, Peter of Corbeil and Peter the Chanter, were the most accomplished theologians in Europe. Stephen Langton, whom Lothar as Pope Innocent later appointed archbishop of Canterbury, and Robert of Courson, whom he appointed as a papal legate and later raised to the cardinalate, were among his fellow students. In Paris Lothar learned to use the Bible as a tool for understanding and solving problems. His theological training shaped his thought and his language for the rest of his life and provided a foundation for his outlook and his policies.
After Paris Lothar studied in Bologna, whose university was the preeminent one for the study of canon and civil law. Although he may have pursued law for more than two or three years (the chronology of his life at this time is uncertain), it did not become the discipline that shaped his worldview or his vision of the papacy. During the 1190s Lothar wrote three theological tracts: De miseria condicionis humane (On the Misery of the Human Condition), De missarum mysteriis (On the Mysteries of the Mass), and De quadripartita specie nuptiarum (On Four Types of Marriage). The first was enormously popular in the Middle Ages, and the others demonstrate that he was a competent, if not gifted, theologian. All three tracts demonstrate his ability to use the Bible to understand Christian institutions in creative and original ways. They also reveal that his experience in Paris shaped his worldview more than his stay in Bologna.
Lothar probably entered clerical orders in Rome while he was a young boy. After his studies in Paris, Lothar was made a subdeacon by Pope Gregory VIII in late 1187. Pope Clement III elevated him to the office of cardinal deacon of SS. Sergius and Bacchus in December 1189 or January 1190. He worked in the papal curia during the 1190s but neither received important commissions nor held significant positions. In spite of his youth and lack of administrative experience, the cardinals quickly elected Lothar pope on the same day that the aged pope Celestine III died (January 8, 1198). He was given or took the name Innocent III, was ordained a priest on February 21, 1198, and was consecrated as bishop of Rome the next day, on the feast day of St. Peter’s Chair. Innocent undoubtedly chose the day of his consecration carefully. He wrote many sermons after he became pope, several of which commemorated the feast day of his consecration. When Innocent reflected on the first pope and Peter’s legacy in these sermons, he presented a luminous vision of the papal office and the pope’s role in Christendom.
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At the beginning of his pontificate, Innocent faced several serious problems. Emperor Henry VI had died, and there were two candidates for the imperial throne: Henry’s brother, Philip of Swabia, and Otto of Brunswick. The German princes were divided over the succession, southern Italy was in political shambles, and the Christian states in the Holy Land were in the hands of the Muslims. In the second half of the 12th century, heresy had become a grave problem in southern France. Papal authority in the city of Rome and over the Papal States had disintegrated, and the papal curia needed reform. Innocent faced all these problems simultaneously.
The new pope’s vigour and resolve can be seen in the letters of the papal registers and in a chronicle, Gesta Innocentii III (“The Deeds of Innocent III”), written about 1208 by an anonymous member of Innocent’s curia who apparently knew the pope very well. In one of his first letters, Innocent ordered King Philip Augustus of France to take back his wife, whom the king had abandoned. With this mandate Innocent signaled his intention to extend papal jurisdiction and authority into the marital affairs of Christian princes.
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From the beginning of his pontificate, Innocent also sought to establish papal temporal authority over Rome and the Papal States. Immediately after his consecration, he received homage from the leaders of the Roman nobility. In order to dominate the city of Rome, Innocent ordered the construction of the Torre dei’Conti, a massive military fortification in the middle of the city, which he placed under the command of his brother Richard. Earlier popes had confined their claims of sovereignty over the Papal States (Patrimony of St. Peter) to the area immediately around Rome, but Innocent used the power vacuum created by the death of the emperor to make much more expansive claims. He systematically sent papal legates to the cities of central Italy to secure their loyalty. Within a remarkably short time, not only nearby cities but also some as far away as Ancona, Assisi, Perugia, and Spoleto had declared their allegiance to the pope. By October 30, 1198, Innocent sent a letter to the rectors of those cities that had submitted to papal lordship. In it he fashioned a striking image of papal authority that he would repeat throughout his pontificate. Papal authority was represented by the Sun, and the Moon signified the power of lay princes. Both powers were established by God, he explained, but, just as the Moon received its splendour from the Sun, royal power acquired its greatness and dignity from papal authority.
Innocent’s creative and passionate rhetoric became a part of his ruling style, and his deeds matched his rhetoric. He established a much larger papal territory than any of his predecessors had controlled, and, from his pontificate on, the pope functioned as an important secular prince in central Italy. Innocent understood the dangers of a pope exercising secular power, however. In the Gesta, his biographer commented that the more Innocent wished to free himself from secular affairs, the greater they burdened him. Innocent, he wrote, had often remarked, “Who touches tar is dirtied by it” (Ecclesiasticus 13:1).
Reigning from 1198 to 1216, Pope Innocent III was one of the most influential and important popes of his era. He granted Saint Francis of Assisi and his small band of followers permission to found the Order of Friars Minor; he convened the Fourth Lateran Council which, among other things, dogmatically defined the doctrine of transubstantiation; and he organized great efforts to combat heresy ...
Apr 15, 2019 · His legates, even though in inferior orders, have precedence over all bishops. An appeal to the papal courts inhibits judgement by all inferior courts. A duly ordained Pope is undoubtedly made a saint by the merits of St. Peter (1986: 241). The Papacy as an institution reached its zenith of power during the pontificate of Innocent III (1198 ...
Pope Innocent III died of natural causes at 55 years of age. His death came only a year following the conclusion of the most important fourth Lateran Council, ensuring that his legacy still impacts the papacy today. Papacy began – January 8, 1198. Papacy ended – July 16, 1216. Successor – Pope Honorius III.
Pope Innocent III. Innocent III, POPE (LOTARIO DE’ CONTI), one of the greatest popes of the Middle Ages, son of Count Trasimund of Segni and nephew of Clement III, born 1160 or 1161 at Anagni, and died June 16, 1216, at Perugia. He received his early education at Rome, studied theology at Paris, jurisprudence at Bologna, and became a learned ...
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During his pontificate, Innocent centralized power in the papal curia, reformed the Roman Curia, compelled bishops and kings to obey papal dictates, launched the Fourth Crusade, and approved the creation of two powerful new religious orders – the Franciscans and the Dominicans. Centralization of Papal Power Under Pope Innocent III
